OREANDA-NEWS. On 29 July 2008 was announced, that in Latvia over the year's time, from July 2007 until July 2008, total number of participants in the third pillar pension schemes or private pension funds has grown by 43.9 % or nearly 50 000. Out of these more than a half or 25 516 people have opted for Hansa Open Pension Fund as the fund where to accrue their supplementary pensions.

“Strong growth of Hansa Open Pension Funds overrides the general pace of market development and it is supported by several factors: both reputation of Hansabanka and wide customer base and competencies of employees and improvement of efficiency of internal operational routines. Nevertheless, the most substantial factor is that this activity of residents highlights the increasingly stronger focus on savings and they choose an expert in the area of savings and investments as their co-operation partner,” says Mr. Renars Karass, Head of Investment Product Division of Hansabanka.

In terms of growth of number of participants Hansa Open Pension Fund demonstrates the highest increase in the industry: from 30 June 2007 to 30 June 2008 the number of active participants has augmented by 4.38 times. The most frequently choice was dynamic pension schemes offered by Hansa Open Pension Funds: Dynamic+ 60 and Dynamic + 100 where the number of active participants has increased by 4.74 and 8.04 times accordingly.

In the aforesaid period of time the volume of assets of pension schemes administrated by Hansa Open Pension Fund has more than doubled and this is the highest indicator among all private pension funds. Also in terms of assets the most rapid growth was experienced by the dynamic pension schemes: Dynamic+ 60 and Dynamic + 100 where the volume of assets have grown by 2.13 and 8.95 times.

“This may be explained by the fact that participants make their savings in the long run which is a very welcome strategy. Dynamic pension schemes are the most appropriate for this strategy because although in a shorter period of time there may be bigger fluctuations in the accrued capital, in a longer period of time they show more rapid increase in capital,” commented Mr. Renars Karass. “If until retirement or the expected period of use of accrued assets there are less than 10 years left, it is advisable to opt for a more stable pension scheme with lower fluctuations in value. If maturity period of savings is longer, it is advisable to choose dynamic schemes. We should also mention that 92 % of participants of private pension schemes are younger than 55, the average age of participant of pension scheme stands at 40.”

In contemporary economy companies are increasingly aware of importance of motivation of their employees and sound internal business environment, thus also we see increased activity of corporate entities. This is highlighted by the number of concluded agreements on collective participation that has increased by 4.3 times in the reporting period. All in all, 653 companies for nearly 6000 participants had made their contributions into pension schemes of Hansa Open Pension Fund until 30 June 2008.

Companies often opt for a tool of motivation which may be an alternative for a private pension fund, namely, corporate insurance with savings. Until 30 June 2008 at Hansabanka already 232 companies had concluded agreements on insurance with savings in total for 3627 employees.